"Paris" - Edith Piaf (1949)

Edith Piaf (vocal) with Orchestra conducted by Robert Chauvigny. Recorded in Paris on February 3rd 1949. The song was written by André Bernheim (music and lyrics) for the 1949 French movie "L'Homme Aux Mains D'Argile". The film focuses on the career of the back then very famous box champion Marcel Cerdan, who plays the starring role himself. He was the lover of Edith Piaf at that time until his sudden death on October 28th 1949 by an airplane crash, tragically just on his way to Edith in New York City, where she sang concerts at the glamorous Versailles nightclub and at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf, was a French singer and lyricist. She is regarded as France's greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers in the world. She is best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. Having begun her career touring with her father at age fourteen, she was discovered in 1935 in Paris by night club owner Louis Leplée, and achieved her first successes in the "Theatre de l'ABC" among others with the song "Mon Légionnaire". Owner of the ABC music hall Mitty Goldin also wrote songs for her, e.g. "Demain" and produced some of her songs. Her fame increased during the German occupation of France, shortly after which (in 1945) she wrote the lyrics to her signature song, translated to English, "La Vie en rose" ('life in pink'). She became France's most popular entertainer in the late 1940s, also touring Europe, South America and the United States, where her popularity led to eight appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Piaf continued to perform, including several series of concerts at the Paris Olympia music hall, until a few months before her death in 1963 at age 47. Her last song, "L'Homme de Berlin", was recorded with her husband Théo Sarapo in April 1963. Since her death, several documentaries and films have been produced about Piaf's life as a touchstone of French culture, including the Academy Award winning La Vie en Rose in 2007. Piaf's music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in chanson réaliste and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. In addition to her signature song, her most widely known songs include "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "L'Accordéoniste" (1940), and "Padam, padam..." (1951)." Wikipedia The fotos in the video show Edith Piaf in the 1940s and 1950s. This Columbia record is played on an Electrola table top Gramophone, model 130 from ca. 1930!